Check In

We had booked an airport pick-up through the hotel, which was outsourced to a third-party provider. The service was functional, the car a little small (Mercedes C-class, not the kind of car where 2 people sit comfortably in the back seats) but they had not offered a choice and we had not requested anything specific. On arrival at the hotel at around 8 pm, check-in was done swiftly at the reception desk, and we were shown to our room where a fruity welcome drink was served.

Location

We chose La Alcobas specifically for its location in the middle of the Polanco neighborhood, which is a bustling area filled with shops, bars, cafes and restaurants. The hotel itself is a low-rise building with 6 floors (so no spectacular views), and the convenience of not needing a taxi or Uber at night is hard to beat.
 

Dining

The hotel sadly doesn’t have a proper bar, but surprisingly good cocktails are served at Anatol restaurant. We also had dinner there the first night, as we were tired after a 12-hour flight from Europe. Food was very good, modern Mexican, and service very attentive. Breakfast at Anatol is a-la-carte, with excellent pastries (the best of the trip so far). We ordered espresso/cappuccino which they said would have to be paid extra as not included in the Virtuoso breakfast, but then we were not charged for them. There is another restaurant, Dulce Patria, which belongs to the hotel, but has a separate entrance only from the street side, but we didn’t try it, as there are so many other option in the neighborhood.

Room

They informed us that we had been upgraded from Deluxe to Grand Deluxe (great), but unfortunately the room must have been the worst in its category (not so great): room 34 was just across the gym, so constant door-banging, and right above the restaurant/bar, where a lively party was going on. However, there was no noise at all from the very busy street outside. We asked for a room change right away, but they said they were full. The next morning, we requested to be moved again, and they moved us to room 62, a Deluxe (back to the booked category) on the highest floor, which was much better. No apology was offered for the inconvenience. The room itself was large enough, great bed, complimentary minibar including a large variety of snacks, all the technology controlled from a touch screen next to the bed, which worked surprisingly well. The bathroom had a whirlpool tub (which due to noise issues may only be used from 9 am to 9 pm, but we don’t like those anyway) and a great walk-in shower with 3 kinds of shower heads.

Room shot:


Another room shot:


View from room 62:

Service

We used the concierge to arrange transfers, a guide for sightseeing (a walking tour in the old town on day 1, an excursion to Teotihuacan on day 2), and restaurants. The guide/driver organized by the hotel was very good and knowledgeable. Unfortunately, we were not as lucky as CanuckFlyHigh to get into Pujol. I always wonder what the point of a Clefs d’Or concierge is if they can’t get you into a popular restaurant with a couple of days’ notice, where we were flexible to go any night of our stay, even at short notice. The other restaurants suggested as alternatives were nice but not extraordinary. We did enjoy La Unica, which was very popular and busy, great for people-watching (the Mexicans seem to like dramatic entrances) and good food.

Overall

All in all, I think we expected at bit more. The reaction to our room noise issue could have been much better - they did arrange the room change after insisting, but a follow-up or apology of some sort would have been appropriate. They really should not even rent room 34 given it's unfortunate location. Considering the small size, service could be more personal, more welcoming, but we're still glad we chose Las Alcobas, if only for the great location and the very comfortable rooms.

Check In

Airport transfer was done by a third-party provider, and we had an unpleasant ride with a surly driver who greeted us by telling us how tired he was, caused several unsafe driving situations with hard braking and did not increase a/c temperature although requested. No water or amenities in the car. Arriving at the resort, a homemade lemonade and cold towels were offered and we were shown to our room, an Ocean Front Casa.

Location and Resort Layout

Imanta is in the Punta Mita area, an upscale resort area near Puerto Vallarta. From the airport it’s a driving time of around 45 minutes, with the last 10 minutes through the jungle, passing 2 huge wooden gates. It felt a bit like arriving at Jurassic Park. Located in the middle of jungle, the resort sits on its own in a bay with a 500 m stretch of beach. The exposure is to the West, making for beautiful sunset views. There are only 12 rooms in the resort. In the middle of the resort there is a main building, which was obviously designed as a multi-bedroom villa, and became public only after construction was finished. It reminded me of the former hilltop villa at Six Senses Yao Noi.

Footpaths from the main building lead to the rooms (no buggy access) and to the beach.

Room

The first impression of the resort and the room was WOW! – a stunning, dramatic location, the jungle, the roaring ocean, the low lighting. A room from the Aman playbook, very symmetric, simple and timeless. There are only two Ocean Front Casas, which sit directly above the beach. They feature a huge deck with daybed, sunbeds and cocktail table, a private plunge pool, an outdoor shower; inside, first the bedroom with a desk and armchair, then the enormous bathroom with double vanities, walk-in shower, bathtub by a huge bay window overlooking the ocean, separate toilet and separate dressing room. A TV is hidden in a console at the end of the bed (didn’t look at it), unfortunately there was no music system.

A few interesting things to note: there are no room keys (you just close the sliding door when leaving), but rooms do lock from the inside; no do-not-disturb sign (which would be cool if they tracked your location in order to not disturb when in the room, but they still entered the terrace to set up/clear the sunbeds); complimentary minibar (just stocked with soft drinks); no shower gel (odd), but upon arrival they let you choose your favorites among 10 varieties of handmade soaps, which are then cut freshly and placed everywhere; bed sheets are changed every 4 days unless requested otherwise; laundry service is complimentary this was not advertised; hot water is a limited resource, the shower turns tepid when 2 people take a shower after one another.

Other than the architectural beauty, there were no personal touches. No fresh flowers, no welcome card or amenity. The guest directory is very, very basic (just a few pages with general information, in-room dining, activities and spa treatments) and only partially bilingual. Housekeeping is of course done twice daily, with no touch-ups in-between.

Spa/Activities

They do offer spa treatments in a jungle spa, which we did not use. In the guest directory, they offer a handful of activities on property, some of which are priced way above reason (USD 2500++ for a trip to their treehouse with margaritas and a surf & turf lunch for 2 pax!). We did try the Temazka experience, a shamanic ritual in the jungle involving fire, hot stones, steam, darkness and prayers, which was very well done, something you’d find at an Aman.

On our last day, we were lucky to take part in setting free a batch of baby turtles. On these occasions, they invite all guests to join this experience. 

Beach, Ocean and Pool

Imanta sits on a completely private and secluded beach, surrounded by jungle. The sand is very fine and dark brown, with sprinkles of gold, quite unique actually. The ocean is safe for swimming, but the waves can be quite high. The water is clear, but dark. The waves go also up very far, so there are no sunbeds on the beach, only higher up at the level of the beach restaurant. I can’t comment on beach service as we spent our days in our Casa.

There is a larger pool up at the main building, and we’re not sure if it’s for everyone or just the guests of the rooms there. The pool in the Casa is heated, but it's more of a plunge pool.

Service

In the restaurants and bar, the service was alright, but not very personal. They repeatedly asked for the name of our room, and we were never addressed by name, which should be possible in a 12-room hotel.

Communication between the different departments seems to be an issue. From the room, you would simply call “guest experience” for anything, but too often a call did not yield the desired result. Like ordering a coconut (never delivered), or to ask if the very competent and enthusiastic barman would be on duty (answer yes, only to find out that he was working at a private event in one of the villas), ask for laundry pick-up (didn’t happen), request a copy of the bill (didn’t happen). English skills are limited, it helped a lot that we speak a bit of Spanish.

We had a few separate issues that required informing guest experience: the transfer experience mentioned before, the water level of our pool dropping mysteriously, a strong stench of sewage/fecal matter in the room, and a big pile of number two by some animal (a coati if you’re interested) that has learned how to open closed sliding doors. Each time, they sent somebody to resolve the issue, but there was no follow-up of any kind.

There was no management presence at all, which to us seemed a bit odd. In a 12-room property, we’d have expected to meet or at least see the people in charge.

Dining

Breakfast and lunch are served at the beach restaurant, and service is S-L-O-W… We’re not people who need everything immediately, but it really was slow, like waiting 30+ minutes for coffee, granola and yoghurt. Even little things that you need urgently take forever. By the time the lime for the coke arrives, the ice cubes have melted…

Breakfast is below average, lunch is ok, not outstanding. Particularly the sweet breakfast items (French toast, pancakes, pastry basket) are poorly executed and presented. Lunch is very focused on tacos and ceviches, all good but not worth taking a picture.

Bread and pastries are the weakest point in their food offerings throughout and seem to be mostly out of the freezer. For breakfast, I’d be happy with a coffee and a muffin, but they couldn’t deliver on that: no croissants, no muffins - the “pastry basket” were 3 tiny puff pastries!

Dinner is served at Tukipa restaurant in the main building, the layout is very odd for a communal area. You’re supposed to order from an a-la-carte menu, with 2 daily specials. It’s maybe a bit too sophisticated for having the same menu every night, but well executed and nicely presented. Service is much quicker and efficient at dinner.

At the top of the building is the Observatorio bar with another small pool and daybeds. Imanta has a great barman, Gabriel, who creates excellent customized cocktails. If he’s not there (which unfortunately was more the rule than the exception), his substitute tries his best, but it’s nowhere near the same. Note that there is no cocktail list, and no drinks list either, and as there are no checks to sign you have no idea how much you’re paying. Wine prices are however acceptable for a resort of this standard (white wines USD 45-60, red wines USD 50 and up, champagne Ruinart Brut USD 150). Everything is +15% service charge.

Two things to note: there is no music anywhere, and as many guests chose to venture out for dinner, the restaurant is very quiet, and it felt a bit eerie; every day is the same, no special dinner or using the beach restaurant for a BBQ, no entertainment of any kind.

Overall

Imanta has the rooms, location and size to be one of the best resorts in the world. We’ve been to a lot of very nice resorts, but have rarely experienced such spectacular views and natural beauty (even more incredible considering that the large resorts of Punta Mita are just 15 minutes away).  Unfortunately, service is not at the level it should be at that price point, where a nice vacation with a reasonable amount spent on incidentals will set you back USD 2k per day. Some things they do seem like they have been scripted by somebody a couple of years ago and they still do 70% of them, but don’t really understand why. For instance, there is a guest book on display at the main building, where the last page was filled in late 2015.

Imanta in its current form is only a small part of a huge masterplan, which includes residential villas, additional rooms, a beach club, a main building with a tiered Amankila-style swimming pool (there is a scale model on display in the gift shop). However, the resort was opened 10 years ago and nothing has been added since the opening.

The staff is friendly and willing to please, but they need a lot of training and more supervision. With the right managerial oversight (maybe hire one of the ex-Aman GMs who have left the group), standards could be improved dramatically.

Would we return: Not until they add more facilities and improve service.

More photos on my Flickr account: https://flic.kr/s/aHsm8LekBk

Check In

Airport transfer was done by a third-party provider. Water and cold towels where offered in the car. Arriving at the resort, we were asked to sit down at the front desk to process the charge for the open balance of our stay (60% had already been charged as deposit). This was a bit strange as this could easily have been done at checkout.

Once this formality was done, we were shown to the main building, beach, restaurant and then to our room, a Beach Suite.

Room

We had 1102, which is the first-floor suite in the middle, and has the most privacy. Walking up wooden external stairs, one passes the room on the side and enters it through the terrace doors. The room is very sleek, chic and white. Furniture is kept to a minimum: a very comfortable bed with built-in bedside tables, an armchair, a little sofa and cocktail table, a sideboard and a free-standing bathtub. The large bathroom had a walk-in shower with a window to the beach, double vanity, open closet and a separate toilet room with a window to the garden. The huge and comfortable beds looks out towards the ocean. There are a wall mounted TV (never used it) and a Bluetooth music system with a pre-loaded iPod (the selection is done by someone famous we did not care much for it).

As the room was pretty much brand new, they were still working out a few kinks and a few things still need improvement (like more privacy between the different terraces; adding a separate light switch for the toilet; the shower fixtures which are too complicated), but we liked it very much. The layout was great and the ocean-views just beautiful.

A few interesting things to note:

• Complimentary coffee/tea and pastries are served in the morning at a time of your choice (theoretically placed in a box at the top of the stairs)
• Complimentary soft drinks in the minibar
• Turndown service comes with a turndown gift: candle, local sweets, postcards, bookmarks
• The access of the room being through the terrace is a bit problematic, as staff have no way to announce themselves (no doorbell or anything), so they will just appear in front of the terrace door, pretty much 2 meters from the bed. This happening 3 times in the first 24 hours of our stay despite the do-not-disturb being placed outside created some irritation, and we had to involve the management to ensure this would not happen again
• Housekeeping is done twice daily, at a time you are asked to specify at check-in.
• We loved the little personal touches in the room, like fresh flowers next and a personal welcome card.

Location and Resort Layout

Esencia is located on a quiet stretch of beach 60 minutes south of Cancun airport, away from the large hotels. The exposure is to the East, making for beautiful sunrises and morning sun.

The original Esencia consists of a row of maybe 12 buildings housing the jungle suites (upper and lower floor) along a garden path, at the end of which lies the main building, a former private villa built for an Italian countess. The ground floor of the villa is mainly for communal use, with a large living room (where complimentary afternoon tea is served daily) and a concierge office. In the villa, there are another 5 rooms. The villa faces the garden, the 2 pools and the beach. On the left side of the garden is a bar palapa, on the right side is the pool restaurant.

Next to the pool restaurant is the huge palapa housing Mistura restaurant, which connects to the new extension of the property. This part was a different resort before, and everything was torn down and rebuilt, in the same footprint as before. This added 11 new suites, bringing the total to 39. These were opened just 2 weeks before we arrived. There are 3 buildings facing the ocean, each with 2 suites, one on the ground floor and one on the first floor.

Spa/Activities

Esencia has a very nice organic spa, which offers a variety of treatments and massages. We enjoyed 4 excellent treatments there, at reasonable prices (USD 175 for a 50-minute massage). There are all kinds of beach equipment for complimentary use. Every morning at 8, there is a complimentary yoga session. All kinds of beach and snorkling equipment are available for complimentary use.

Beach, Ocean and Pool

The best thing about Esencia is the white sand coral beach, which is shared only with one other hotel and a few private villas. The water is azure blue and warm, perfect for swimming. The stretch of beach is maybe 2 km long, so perfect for walks on the beach. On the Esencia beach, cabanas (?) with sunbeds are set up. Right behind the beach, in front of the main building, there are two swimming pools with more sunbeds.

Service

In the restaurants and bar, the service excellent throughout. They did ask for our room number a couple of times in the beginning, and then continued to address us by name. Most staff speak very good English, and we had some nice chats with them.

Beach service was particularly good. Cold water was set up immediately upon arrival and replenished regularly. Staff passed by every hour to check for any needs, and if that wasn’t enough, there is a call button at every cabana to summon the beach waiter.

We did see a few management people around the property, but nobody ever actively engaged us.

Dining

We had booked the meal plan, which included breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as all non-alcoholic drinks.

There are 3 restaurants on property: the new beach restaurant (Mistura), the pool restaurant and the garden restaurant (which became pretty much unnecessary with the opening of Mistura).

Breakfast is served either at Mistura or at the pool restaurant, the menu is the same in both places. There is an a-la-carte menu with plenty of egg dishes, sweets and healthy options to satisfy all needs. Pastries (croissants and different types of muffins) are excellent, and the French toast was one of the best I’ve ever had. Service is quick, friendly, efficient. Overlooking the ocean in the morning sun was a perfect was to start the day.

We enjoyed some very nice lunches either at Mistura or on the sunbeds. The lunch menu has a great selection of sandwiches, salads, tacos, burgers all outstanding in taste and quality and beautifully presented.

For dinner, there are 2 options, Mistura and the pool restaurant. Both are casual, the pool restaurant is the more traditional option with a menu of Mexican and international dishes. The more interesting option is Mistura (where the chef is an El Bulli alumni), with a very creative modern Mexican menu, and everything served family style. Presentation, taste and quality are world-class.

A few things to note:

• At night, the area around the pools turns into a lounge area, beautifully lit with tiki torches and candles
• Every other day, there is a live mariachi band, which we liked at lot
• Cocktails are excellent, and we usually started the evening with a cocktail at the bar palapa
• All prices are +16% tax and 10% service charge.

Overall

We arrived at Esencia with very high expectations, having read the great reviews. The privacy issues at the beginning of our stay where highly annoying, which is why we decided to involve the management. Once this was resolved, the rest of our stay was perfectly smooth. The resort has a very special feel to it, more like a staying at the private home of very rich friends.

There are many aspects we loved about Esencia. It’s obvious that a lot of thought went into creating a unique guest experience, a perfect beachside hideaway – with a few touches out of the Aman playbook. The magical lighting around the pool at night, the perfect cocktails, the food in both restaurants, the live music. Some really impressive and smart little details, like the service button in the cabanas, the turndown gifts and the beautiful stationary with hand-drawn illustrations used at all guest touchpoints. Great, attentive staff in the restaurants and at the beach. All this comes at a price, tough: a nice vacation here with a normal amount of incidentals will easily set you back USD 2k per day.

Would we return? Yes - we did like the boutique retro feel of Esencia very much.